Spot on...the entire licencing farce has stumbled from error to catastrophe and all the while, the RFL has stood by and watched it happen.

That said, as a London supporter, I have little sympathy for us now......if we are relegated in 2015 or if we don't make it that far, it's not like we weren't warned.

The only way to save London NOW is for David Hughes to hand back the licence NOW.....mid season. The RFL would soon get their fingers out and sort out assistance rather than just paying lip service to the "expansionist" lobby in Red Hall.

Licensing hasn't caused the problems that any clubs may have faced. Don't try to use that as a scapegoat for sheer bad management

I think the RFL would snap David Hughes hands off if he handed their licence in now. London not making the cut in SL for 2014 would aliviate a lot of problems for the RFL. I keep hearing about Featherstone preparing for full-time status next year virtually every week up here in flat-cap land. On standby maybe ?

the only problem with licensing is that its being administrated by a bunch of yellow bellies at the RFL.

I have never seen so many talented young british players coming through and getting first chance and its only taken 3 years wonder what 6 would achieve.

The RFL are trying appease every one and that does not work in business, no team would improve superleague if they got promoted not a single 1.

Why don't we try a new idea and go for consistency, State of origin didn't become popular over night its taken 30 years of hype to build it to what it is now. The NRL didn't just get given a lot of money over night its built the league and marketed it hard and now its booming it didn't panic at every speed bum it stayed consistent!

That’s the problem, Shoe-horning P+R in, moving to a 12 team league, top 5 play-offs, wont solve, or even address the problems the game faces. Neither would staying with licensing or moving to franchising. Licensing was only ever supposed to provide the platform and stability for the game to address its problems, the game did address some of them, failed to address some of them. This change wont address any of the problems the game has, none at all. That’s why its such a regressive and cowardly measure. It’s a sop, an abdication of responsibility. It wont kill the game, it wont destroy it or send it back to semi-pro, it will undo some of the gains we have made and set us back probably 10 years, but ultimately the format we have is becoming irrelevant because the game simply isn’t addressing its real problems. Poor management and governance at all levels.

I look forward to featherstone, Halifax or Leigh making SL more sustainable.

For years, I was all for promotion and relegation completely of the opinion that it was the only way forward for Rugby League because the teams at the bottom of SL needed something to fight for and the teams below Super League need something to aspire to. But the closer we get to a return to P&R the more and more I think it is a terrible idea which will damage the game.

I do believe that the dwindling crowds in the Championship and Championship 1 are mainly attributable to a no promotion, but it's just not the way forward. The RFL seriously need to look at reinstating the U23s for next year. As someone has already mentioned in this thread, we currently have more young tallented players coming through than we probably ever have done and although there is the federation trained rule in place, it will not stop teams from trying to buy their way out of relegation as opposed to giving youth their chance to shine.

The RFL needs to look at how all 14 Super League teams can be sustainable if this means dropping the league to 12 so be it, but don't bring back relegation.

I honestly don't think that promotion and relegation can be re-introduced until we have a full time professional Championship division otherwise we are just going to have the same 3 or 4 teams yo-yoing until they go bankrupt.

Have Hull KR ??? I think they have however they were in the same position as above clubs (even worse) for years in the lower divisions. Don't other clubs deserve the same chance Hull KR have had ???

to spend lots of money they dont have on overseas players, neglect youth development, get themselves in to a ton of debt? No, not really.

For all the positives and negatives of Hull KR and their position in SL, its pretty clear that the way they had to do it only made it much harder and led to an outcome we, as a game, and HKR as a club, didn’t want.

They have had to spend money to turn the club from a NL club to a SL one. Much like Warrington needed ro spend far more than most other clubs to turn a lower SL club into one constantly challenging for honours... Like Hull needed a merger and how much from the RFL to turn the club from a joke to a big fish in the domestic game. I think HKR have only started a proper youth system since there inclusion in SL ??? That's going to take a few more years... Rome wasn't built in a day.

You need to get your head around the fact clubs like Leeds and Wigan run themselves where as FAR more hard work needs to go into running the majority of sporting clubs in this country.

Clubs do need to spend a hell of a lot of money changing from an NL club to an SL club, thats why it is crazy to have a system whereby whether or not you need to make that investment is decided by the bounce of a ball and not by whether or not you can make that investment, and a bounce of a ball can also undo all the gains that investment has made.

It does take years, and rome wasnt built in a day. Hence why P+R isnt a very good option.

Hull KR have done all they have done without finishing in a relegation spot, what's to stop Fev, Halifax or Leigh ??? It's possible to plan for the future and stay up in a higher division while investing in the club. Sport is littered with examples of this....

££££££

The money HKR spent on the absolute nonsense players they needed to sign just to stay up would have been far better spent on youth development, infrastructure or even just saved for a later date. P+R ensured HKR spent money on things that didn’t contribute to their long term sustainability just so they stayed up, that was at the expense of spending that money on things which did contribute to their long term sustainability.

Hull KR getting relegated would roll back a huge amount of what they have needed to do to build to where they are, the promoted team would then need to spend the huge amounts of money HKR spent just to get to the same level. The game would be no further forward, we would in fact have gone backwards from having 1 club at HKR’s level to having 0 clubs at HKR’s level.

replacing HKR, with a club who would need to spend millions to build to where HKR are right now, when HKR still need to spend millions to get where they need to be, makes no sense for a sport looking to grow,

But who gave HKR the god given right to be able to do this at the expense of say Leigh ??? The people of Leigh deserve a shot just as much as any other club given promotion during the summer era without having to tick ridiculous boxes they can't ever tick (the not having any other clubs in x amount of miles radius) and boxes that would be very hard to tick without being in SL in the first place. I know judging sporting clubs on what they do on the pitch first and foremost isn't popular with everyone but thank god the SL chairman agree its the best way forward.

Nobody gave anyone the god given right of anything to anyone. But as a sport we don’t have the funds to keep throwing at a wall and seeing what sticks. We need to be careful with our money and spend it as best we can. When it doesn’t work, giving people ‘shots’ wastes huge amounts of money we can ill afford to waste, we are cutting development officers and youth development programmes left right and centre, we cant afford to be damaging SL clubs to ‘give a shot’ to a lower league club, we can’t afford to be putting clubs in SL who can’t show they are ready for SL.

no they don't! it took an astute business man to turn around wigan as a club and not just on the business side. To many clubs in superleague are allowed to be come stagnate and do the bare minimum and thats why i said its partially the RFL fault Franchising hasn't been the complete success it could be.

Widnes was in the same position as leigh, featherstone and halifax and they worked hard to get their club in order and rightly got a franchise back in superleague. Hull KR have a decent crowed following and have brought some good players through they deserve to be in super league when it comes to the team but more can be done off the field and it looks like they are working for it.

Widnes are in the top league because the bloke who owns Stobarts trucking company is a millionaire plus.

Money talks and unless TV money is distributed equitably there will only ever be 5 clubs who can win trophies. For every other club all league games are now perceived as friendlies.

That needs addressing urgently.

I'd suggest god gave it to them.....if it's god given

The TV money is distributed equitably amongst the SL clubs, so that's no reason as to why some clubs don't challenge for trophies.
Which 5 clubs do you mean by the way?

So, in the Whelan era.... Wigan as a club were losing money ???

Also can you please list the 'stagnant' clubs.... What they are doing wrong and in your expertise tell us all what these clubs should be trying and doing that they aren't already....

In the Whelan era the Wigan club lost zillions of pounds. The company accounts were a financial train crash. The club did not sell its own merchandise but it was sold through then then Whelan owned JJB Sports.
When Ian Lenegan bought the place prior to the 2008 season he said he wanted the club to win trophies and be profitable.
The past three seasons Wigan have won trophies and been profitable.
Prior to 2008 IL said that he was changing the club policy on recriutment. In that any local Wigan lad who showed the potential would be given a chance at first team Rugby. This season Wigan have regularly fielded 12 players or more out of the 17 who have come through the Wigan youth set up.
This has taken some years to achieve and if a club was threatened by relegation they could not achieve this. Not threatened by relegation and most if not all clubs could achieve this.
One way to ensure clubs train most of their squad is to increase the number of club trained players in the squad.
At present it's 8 in the squad of 25. Make it 8 in the game day 17 and we'd all be in business and be far better off for it than we are now.

Saints Wire Wigan Leeds and Hull.

My point is ALL pro clubs should receive a share of TV money.

the RFL killed London Broncos the day they said he couldn't own 2 clubs...